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Originally Posted by ath
I think the question is slanted the wrong way. The term 'e-book reader' leads the thoughts in the wrong direction.
The emphasis here is on information and reference, not on books. These devices are really e-readers, not e-book readers. So the question is misleading: why do people want e-book readers? They don't. They may want e-readers -- what they want to use these devices for is not primarily books, but information.
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The thing with eBooks like the iLiad is that they are good for reading all markets for the printed word.
You can read your morning newspaper on it. Then, during the day, you can use it to read your reference manuals. In your leisure time, you can use it to read your novels.
So I agree that, today, there are different markets for the printed word. But with eBook readers, those markets are combined.
I have to disagree that people don't want eBook readers. While we certainly want electronic readers for information, we also still want to read books anywhere at a moment's notice.
For years, I have read books on my Palm. I probably will still read a few there because of how pleasant it is to be able to read a few screens of a good novel while I wait for my manager to ramble on during a meeting.
In my vision of the future, I pick up my eBook reader as I leave for work. It had downloaded the latest version of the local news paper just before I picked it up. While traveling to work, I can read the news - maybe even get a refreshed version before I get to work using an open wireless network. While at work, I consult it for information because all my technical manuals are there - a button push away, text searchable. At lunch, I turn to the latest novel that I downloaded from Fictionwise. Back to work and more technical manuals. Then I get to read some more of my novel, or maybe a different novel, on the way home. (Yes, I can, and frequently do, read several books at once - swapping between each on every chapter or so.)
So, while you are right in that people want these devices for information, you are wrong about people not wanting them for eBook readers. We want them for both reasons - and eBook readers can (at least pretty well) deliver. All we need to do now is to get companies to make the content we want.